Ability Scores

Strength is the measure of your character’s ability to push, pull, or exert any raw physical force on the world around them. It is used to muscle your way through certain situations and deal damage with most melee weapons. STR is also used to determine a creature’s carrying capacity before becoming encumbered. A creature that is encumbered (meaning they have surpassed their carrying capacity) is slowed and cannot climb, swim, or jump. If they have surpassed their carrying capacity by > 150% (e.g. your carrying capacity is 100 and you’re carrying >150 pounds) then they are incapacitated. Your STR also partially determines your Fortitude.

Flying and Swimming. Some creatures are naturally able to fly or swim, such as by having wings or fins, or are granted the means to do so by special features such as class abilities or spells. In each of these cases, the flying and swimming speeds of these creatures are determined using their Size and STR in much the same way land-based creatures' walking speeds are determined using their Size and AGI. If a feature says it affects a creature's Speed, it affects their walking, flying, and swimming speeds unless the feature explicitly says otherwise.

Constitution measures your body’s overall fortitude and toughness, as well as your stamina and your ability to resist the effects of poison and disease. CON is used when determining your Health and Fortitude. Any time your CON increases/decreases, you gain/lose an amount of Maximum Health equal to the change times your level; for example, if your CON increases from 3 to 3.5 and you are level 5, your Maximum Health immediately increases by .5 times 5, which is 2.5.

Agility measures a character's ability to move quickly and perform body-wide feats of finesse, whereas DEX is more closely tied to hand-eye coordination and precise, nimble movements using one's hands and feet. Your AGI and DEX together form your Dodge and Reflex scores, the latter of which doubles as your place in initiative.

Speed. AGI also modifies your Speed: in addition to their Base Speed (determined by their Size), a creature also gains an amount of m/sec equal to their AGI. For example, a Medium creature (Base Move 3m/sec) with an AGI of 3.5 would have a Speed of 6.5m/sec (3 + 3.5); conversely, a Medium creature with an AGI of 1 would only have a Speed of 4m/sec (3 + 1). This applies to walking and swimming speeds; flying speed is determined similarly, but use your STR score instead. If a feature says it affects your Speed, it affects your walking, flying, and swimming speeds unless the feature explicitly says otherwise.

Landing Prone. When falling, you can make an AGI check to avoid landing prone (this does not reduce the damage you take from falling). The DR for this check is equivalent to triple the number of meters you fell, e.g. if you fall 10 meters, the DR to avoid landing prone is 30.

Dexterity measures your balance, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination. It is used when precision is called for and helps in determining a character’s Dodge and Reflex scores. Additionally, either your DEX or your AGI determines your place in the initiative order of combat.

Time Cost Reduction (TCR). DEX also reduces the Time Cost of most actions: specifically, when a creature's DEX score reaches 1, 5, and 9, the time it takes them to perform a given action (unless otherwise explicitly stated by the action description) is reduced by .5, 1, and 1.5 seconds respectively, to a minimum of .5 seconds for non-trivial actions and 1 second for attacks.

Intelligence determines your ability to learn & retain information, analyze situations & determine the best possible outcome, and your ability to perform calculations & reason things out logically. A creature with an INT of 0 or .5 cannot read or write.

Every character gains an additional number of SP equal to their INT score, which they can place into any Action or Tool Skill of their choice or they can use to learn a new Sentient language; ergo, if a character with an INT of 3 so desires, they could know 3 extra languages, gain 3 proficiency in any Action or Tool Skill(s) of their choice, or some combination of the above. Conversely, a character must lose/forget 1 proficiency/language if their INT ever decreases by 1.

Wisdom measures your attunement to the world around you, and your ability to determine how things should be or what you should do in a given situation. Your WIS also makes up one half of your Willpower score, along with your Charisma.

Charisma determines your ability to command the attention of those around you. It measures how well you can interact with others in a social context, from commanding and inspiring them to intimidating and deceiving them. A high CHA score does not necessarily mean that the character is well-loved by all around them (though this is frequently the case), just that they have a very demanding and noticeable presence. Your CHA score also partially determines your Willpower score, with the other part of it being determined by your WIS.